What are modules?

Understanding Modules

To manage the complexity of the software environment, SeaWulf uses environment modules. Each module encapsulates particular software packages that are made available to users. For example, there are many different flavors of MPI toolchains and libraries -- mpicc, mpicxx, and mpif90 being the compiler wrappers and mpirun being the launcher. Each flavor of MPI is wrapped up in its own module.

The main command to interact with modules is the module command. To get an overview, execute the command:

module --help

The commands used most often are:

module list (returns a list of all the currently loaded modules)

module avail (returns a list of the available modules)

module [load | add] (adds module to the current environment)

module [unload | rm] (removes a module from the current environment)

module initadd (adds modulefile(s) so they start up automatically when logging in)

module purge (removes all loaded modules)